Setting aside the goldbuggery, the real value in gold is that it can’t be easily sanctioned.

So, Russian gold reserves (the fifth largest in the world) have allowed the country to continue trading internationally (particularly with Indian and China) on credit, despite being cut out of the SWIFT banking system in Europe. And gold reserves in countries like Libya, Syria, and Iraq allowed their respective dictators to do business with European private interests despite heavy sanctions from the European host countries.

But also, its a physical asset that cannot be easily transferred. So you end up with the problem Venezuela’s Maduro had when they trusted £1.4bn in gold bullion to the Bank of England only for the bank to effectively steal it.

On the flip side, Libya and Syria and Iraq were all toppled by foreign invasion. And their large gold reserves became a lucrative pay-off to the private interests of the incoming militaries, as well as a fungible tool for the cartels and gangs that would come to dominate these countries after the central government’s collapse. Effectively, these large reserves became the bounty for their leadership’s decapitation.

So… there’s a double-edge to large gold reserves, both held domestically and abroad.